account of his North-West Passage expedition, entitled Sydpolen. Den norske Sydpolsfaerd med Fram 1910-12. An English translation was published in 1913. Amundsen started on a North Polar Expedition in 1918.

Amur´, or Amoor´, one of the largest rivers of Eastern Asia, formed by the junction of the Rivers Shilka and Argun; flows first in a south-eastern and then in a north-eastern direction till it falls into an arm of the Sea of Okhotsk, opposite the Island of Sakhalin, after a course of 1500 miles. It forms, for a large portion of its course, part of the boundary-line between the Russian and the Chinese dominions, and is navigable throughout for four months in the year.—Amoor Territory. In 1858 Russia acquired from China the territory on the left bank of the Upper and Middle Amoor, together with that on both banks of the Lower Amoor. The western portion of the territory was organized as a separate province, with the name of the Amoor (area, 154,795 sq. miles. Pop. 261,500). The eastern portion was joined to the Maritime Province of Eastern Siberia.

Am´urath, or Murad, the name of several Ottoman sultans. See Ottoman Empire.

Amyclæ (a-mī´klē), a town of ancient Greece, the chief seat of the Achæans in Laconia, a short distance from Sparta, by which it was conquered about 800 B.C.

Amyg´daloid (Gr. amygdalē, an almond), meaning 'almond-shaped', a term used in anatomy and geology.

Amyg´dalus, the genus to which the almond belongs.

Am´yl, in chemistry, a hypothetic radicle believed to exist in many compounds, especially the fusel-oil series, and having the formula C₅H₁₁.—Amyl Nitrite, or Nitrite of Amyl, an amber-coloured fluid, smelling and tasting like essence of pears, which has been employed as an anæsthetic and also in relieving cardiac distress, as in angina pectoris.

Am´ylene (C₅H₁₀), an ethereal liquid with an aromatic odour, prepared from fusel-oil. It possesses anæsthetic properties, and has been tried as a substitute for chloroform, but is very dangerous.

Amyl´ic Alcohol, one of the products of the fermentation of grain, &c., commonly known by the name of fusel-oil (q.v.).

Amyot (ä-mi-ō), Jacques, French writer and scholar, whose translations from the Greek have themselves become classics, was born in 1513, and died Bishop of Auxerre in 1593, having been for twelve years a professor of classics at Bourges, and having enjoyed the patronage of Margaret of Navarre and Henry II. His chief translations are those of Plutarch's Lives and his Morals, the Aethiopica of Heliodorus, and the Daphnis and Chloe of Longus. Sir Thomas North's English translation of Plutarch (1575), of which Shakespeare made much use, was derived from that of Amyot.

Amyrida´ceæ, a nat. ord. of plants, consisting of tropical trees or shrubs, the leaves, bark, and fruit of which abound in fragrant resinous and balsamic juices. Myrrh, frankincense, and the gum-elemi of commerce are among their products. Among the chief genera of the order are Amyris, Balsamodendron, Boswellia, and Canarium.

A´na, the neuter plural termination of Latin adjectives in -ānus, often forming an affix with the names of eminent men to denote a collection of their memorable sayings—thus Scaligeriana, Johnsoniana, the sayings of Scaliger, of Johnson; or to denote a collection of anecdotes, or gossipy matter, as in boxiana. Hence, as an independent noun, books recording such sayings; the sayings themselves.

Anabap´tists (from the Gr. anabaptizein, to rebaptize), a name given to a Christian sect by their adversaries, because, as they objected to infant baptism, they rebaptized those who joined their body. Their doctrine is based upon the words of Christ in St. Mark, xvi, 16. The founder of the sect appears to have been Nicolas Storch, a disciple of Luther's, who seems to have aimed also at the reorganization of society based on civil and political equality. Gathering round him a number of fiery spirits, among whom was Thomas Münzer, he incited the peasantry of Suabia and Franconia to insurrection—the doctrine of a community of goods being now added to their creed. This insurrection was quelled in 1525, when Münzer was put to the torture and beheaded. After the death of Münzer the sectaries dispersed in all directions, spreading their doctrines wherever they went. In 1534 the town of Münster in Westphalia became their centre of action. Under the leadership of Bockhold and Matthias their numbers increased daily, and being joined by the restless spirits of the adjoining towns, they soon made themselves masters of the town and expelled their adversaries. Matthias became their prophet, but he fell in a sally against the Bishop of Münster, Count Waldeck, who had laid siege to the city. Bockhold then became leader, assuming the name of John of Leyden, King of the New Jerusalem, and Münster became a theatre of all the excesses of fanaticism, lust, and cruelty. The town was eventually taken (June, 1535), and Bockhold and a great many of his partisans suffered death. This was the last time that the movement assumed anything like political importance. In the meantime some of the apostles, who were sent out by Bockhold to extend the limits of his kingdom, had been successful in various places, and many independent teachers, who preached the same doctrines, continued active in the work of founding a new empire of pure Christians. It is true that they rejected the practice of polygamy, community of goods, and intolerance towards those of different opinions which had prevailed in Münster; but they enjoined upon their adherents the other doctrines of the early Anabaptists, and certain heretical opinions in regard to the humanity of Christ, occasioned by the controversies of that day about the sacrament. The most celebrated of those Anabaptist prophets were Melchior Hoffmann, the founder of the Hoffmannists or Millenarians; Galenus Abrahamssohn, from whom the sect of the Galenists were called; and Simon Menno, founder of various sects known as Mennonites. Menno's principles are contained in his Principles of the True Christian Faith (1556), a work which is held as authoritative on points of doctrine and worship among the Baptist communities at the present day. The application of the term Anabaptist to the general body of Baptists throughout the world is unwarranted, because these sects have nothing in common with the bodies which sprung up in various countries of Europe during the Reformation, except the practice of adult baptism. The Baptists themselves repudiate the name Anabaptist, as they claim to baptize according to the original institution of the rite, and never repeat baptism in the case of those who in their opinion have been so baptized. It is under the designation of Mennonites that they exist to-day, principally in Holland, Germany, and the United States.

An´abas. See Climbing-perch.

Anab´asis (Gr. anabasis, a march up country), the title of Xenophon's celebrated account of the expedition of Cyrus the Younger against his brother Artaxerxes, King of Persia. The title is also given to Arrian's work which records the campaigns of Alexander the Great.

An´ableps, a genus of fishes of the perch family, found in the rivers of Guiana, consisting of but one species, remarkable for a peculiar structure of the eyes, in which there is a division of the iris and cornea, by transverse ligaments forming two pupils, and making the whole eye appear double. The young are brought forth alive.

Anabolism (Gr. ana, up, and bolé, a throw), a biological term suggested by Michael Foster, and used by Gaskell in 1886, and